waiting
by SSSRHA
Summary: They were waiting. He was five hours late, but they were still waiting. [One-shot, AU, starts out odd, ends up eerie]


**"Sasuke?"**

"Yes, Naruto?"

"The sky's dark."

"It's nighttime."

"Yeah, but I'm bored."

"Well, so am I."

"What are we doing again?"

"Waiting for Kamisa."

"When was he supposed to be here?"

"Five hours ago."

"And he's still not here?"

"He may or may not be related to Kakashi."

"Heh...I'm still bored."

"I can see that."

"You know the story of the boy and the island of monsters?"

"The horribly bland one with absolutely no tension? Yes, yes I do."

"Well, tell it to me."

"Why should I?"

"What else do we have to do? It's dark and we're in some nameless forest. It'll pass the time."

"I'm sure you could have picked something more interesting than the story of Momotaro."

"Well, if you've got a better idea-"

"I don't."

"Then what are you complaining about?"

"The absolute stupidity you display on a regular basis."

"Hey! That's mean!"

"Are you denying it?"

"Yes!"

"And the stupidity continues."

"..."

"..."

"...Kamisa did say we're going to meet today, right?"

"He said Saturday."

"Is today Saturday? We've spent so much time in the woods that I've forgotten."

"I'm pretty sure today is Saturday, idiot."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Some of us can actually tell the days of the week."

"No, no, what day did we come here on?"

"Tuesday."

"Which Tuesday?"

"The one five weeks back."

"How are you so sure that it's been five weeks?"

"Because I'm not an absolute moron."

"No, you have nothing to back yourself up other than your own memory! You yourself said that the human memory is flawed!"

"What are you implying?"

"What if today's Sunday? Or Friday? Or even Thursday?"

"It's not my fault the days have just been dragging on and flying by alternatively!"

"So you admit it!"

"And what kind of great accomplishment is that? Both ways, you're in a bad position. Either you're wrong, or we're here on the wrong day."

"Oh no, we might be here on the wrong day! If he came yesterday and didn't find us, will he even come today? Is this even the right spot?"

"He said by the stream."

"This stream, specifically?"

"Do you see any other stream?"

"No, but there could be hundreds in the forest."

"We don't really have a choice other than sitting here and waiting, do we, Naruto?"

"God, Sasuke, do you even know if Kamisa is his name?"

"I'm pretty sure it is."

"..."

"..."

"...it's cold."

"I agree, it's freezing."

"I should have bought that old coat. Oh, you remember that coat, Sasuke?"

"The one I wouldn't let you buy?"

"Yes, that one."

"I'm glad you didn't buy it."

"Why? It would have kept me nice and warm."

"But then how would you experience the cold?"

"What kind of reasoning is that?"

"...nevermind, I'm being ridiculous. Yes, you should have bought that coat. It was big enough for the two of us, too."

"Warm and toasty. I'm hungry."

"There are some berries over there."

"They might poisonous."

"That was my point."

"Hm...I could still give it a shot."

"You could."

"But if they're poisonous, I'd be dead."

"That's true. I'll try it, too."

"Sure. I'll go first, though."

"Why?"

"Because if you went and died, I'd be lonely until I died, too."

"Well, I'd be in the same boat. I'll go first."

"No, I'll go."

"No, me."

"No, me."

"Why don't we ask him?"

"Who?"

"Kamisa. You know, when he gets here."

"Okay. I'm still hungry, though."

"I have some crackers."

"Why didn't you give those to me in the first place?"

"I forgot about them."

"How do you forget about them? They're in your pocket."

"I forget about a lot of things. Here."

"Thank you."

"..."

"..."

"...we met in the Academy, right?"

"I think so. You were top of the class, I was the bottom."

"Did we talk a lot?"

"You don't remember?"

"I told you, I forget about a lot of things."

"Okay. No, I don't think we did."

"Why not?"

"Surely you remember why we used to hate each other."

"I don't."

"Well, we came from two different worlds. You were the son of a wealthy clan head, I was a no-name orphan. Really, I'm not surprised."

"Really? Why not?"

"When have the rich ever slummed it with the poor?"

"Why don't they?"

"That's a question that you'd have to answer, Sasuke. You're the rich one."

"Why don't the poor ask to meet with the rich?"

"Why pursue a pointless goal that will surely only end in snarky looks and upturned noses?"

"Was that how I was like as a child?"

"That's how most of the clan kids were as children. Most of them stayed that way."

"Did I stay that way?"

"Some ways, you did. Others, not so much."

"What does that mean?"

"It means what it means."

"Why are you being so cryptic?"

"I'm not. You're just having a hard time understanding."

"You're not making any sense, Naruto."

"...you're right. I'm being stupid. Ha. You think the water in the stream is safe to drink?"

"Probably not."

"Oh."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...say, Sasuke, what time is it?"

"Six, at least. Maybe seven."

"Kamisa was supposed to come at one."

"Yeah."

"How old are you?"

"What's with the sudden change of subject?"

"I'm bored."

"Well, I'm nineteen. You'll be nineteen in a month or so."

"How do you know it's not already my birthday? It's certainly cold enough to be October. Maybe even November."

"It hasn't been long enough. Just five weeks."

"You said you didn't know how long it's been."

"...I did, didn't I?"

"You okay, Sasuke? You're usually more aware than this."

"The last few weeks have dulled my senses. I should have trained more."

"We trained yesterday."

"We did?"

"I think."

"Is you're memory bad now, too?"

"I...I guess. I'm pretty sure we trained yesterday, and yet not really."

"How eloquent."

"This is the right week, right?"

"...I don't know, Naruto. I don't know."

"You should."

"And yet I don't."

"But you should."

"But I don't."

"But you _should."_

"But I _don't."_

"But you-"

"This is getting nowhere."

"Well, we've got nowhere to be, so it's fitting."

"Kamisa should have been here by now."

"He should have been here six hours ago."

"Why were we talking to him in the first place?"

"He said he wanted to tell us something, I think. Or maybe he invited us here for something."

"And we didn't think this could be a trap?"

"I'm sure we agreed for a good reason. I just can't remember what that reason was…"

"Neither can I."

"Sasuke, it's getting late."

"I know."

"I can see the stars."

"I know."

"You could never see the stars in Konoha. At least, not this many. The light from the city drowned them out."

"You can see the same stars in any country-side on the continent."

"Maybe, but how many country-sides will we see?"

"I don't know. Many, maybe. Or none. We'll never know with this job. That said, how do you know that we'll see them together?"

"Why wouldn't we?"

"We might be on a team with someone else. Or one of us might be sick. There could be any number of reasons."

"But I don't want to see the country-side without you."

"Why not?"

"It would be like you eating the berries and dying. I'd feel alone, even though I wouldn't soon after."

"There'll probably be people there with you."

"Maybe, but it's not the same."

"I don't see the difference."

"Of course you don't."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, Sasuke. Nothing at all."

"No, no, tell me."

"You wouldn't appreciate it in the first place, so what's the point?"

"...I suppose you're right. Hey, Naruto."

"Yes?"

"Why are we doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Waiting for Kamisa."

"Because he asked us to?"

"And why are we indulging him? Why are we sitting here in some forest and talking? We have other things to do."

"Like what?"

"Like...like missions. We're ninja, Naruto. We do missions. In fact, we should get back to the Village."

"What about Kamisa?"

"What about him?"

"Shouldn't we wait a bit longer for him?"

"We should get back to the Village. In fact...why did we leave?"

"A mission, I think. Grandma Tsunade assigned it to us."

"What were we supposed to be doing?"

"...it seems that I've forgotten."

"Naruto, you idiot! We're on a mission and we don't even know what we're supposed to be doing!"

"We might have already done it."

"I hope so, or we're going to be in big trouble when we get back."

"We'll leave as soon as Kamisa shows up."

"Yeah. Say, when did we meet Kamisa?"

"A while ago. At least five weeks, I think."

"Really? I thought we met much more recently."

"We might have. I'm pretty forgetful."

"You shouldn't be. _I_ shouldn't be. We're trained shinobi, we're better than this."

"The lasts few weeks have dulled our senses."

" _I_ said that."

"Oh. Sorry. I forgot."

"...I'm hungry now. Where'd you put the crackers?"

"Sorry, Sasuke, I ate them all."

"Seriously? Fine, I'll go eat those berries."

"No, we agreed to let him decide, right?"

"Who?"

"Kamisa."

"Oh yeah. How much longer?"

"He should have been here six hours ago."

"A more extreme version of Kakashi?"

"Heh. I guess. Hey, Sasuke, I'm bored."

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

"Tell me a story. Just...not Momotaro."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I just don't feel like it."

"Well, I don't know many others."

"Oh."

"Guess we'll just wait, then."

"For who?"

"For Kamisa."

 _ **the end**_

* * *

 **That was a weird one. Anyway, for anyone who didn't realize it, this story was heavily inspired by "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett. I definitely didn't achieve the same sense of... _something_ that he managed to produce, but I'm pretty proud of this. It's pretty eerie, though. I like that, too.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Remember to Favorite, Follow, and Review! This is SSSRHA, signing out!**


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